Numerical approach to problems of gravitational instability of geostructures with advected material boundaries

SUMMARY We present a numerical approach for solving 2-D mantle flow problems where the chemical composition changes abruptly across intermediate boundaries. The method combines a Galerkin-spline technique with a method of integration over regions bounded by advected interfaces to represent discontinuous variations of material parameters. It allows direct approximation of a natural free surface position, instead of a posteriori calculation of topography from the normal stress at the upper free-slip boundary. We formulate a model where a viscous incompressible fluid filling a square box is divided into layers (not necessarily horizontal) by advected boundaries, across which the density and vi…